We’d all heard the stories of rampant drinking, drugs, magic mushroom shakes and all night dancing, but when you see if for yourself you are left shaking your head. Not at the young people from around the world dancing the night away under a full moon, but at the fact that I have never seen so much booze consumed in one session in my life!

Thailand is a beautiful place. I’ve holidayed there twice and I love it. I’ve worked in parts of the country numerous times, but when we go there as a television team, we understand that at the end of the day it’s Asia, and things work differently there.

There’s no occupational health and safety regimes like in Australia. Road rules are different entirely, if they exist at all. There’s no responsible service of alcohol certificates issued to bar staff. No one checks driver’s licenses to ensure you’re old enough to ‘booze on’.

Full moon madness

And if you get into trouble … God help you. Because if you don’t have money, that’s all you’ll have up your sleeve - divine intervention.

For the majority of people who attend Full Moon, it’s probably just a wild night of fun dancing and too much grog. They’ll collapse somewhere on the sand, and wake the next day with a massive hangover, and little else.

But for an unfortunate few, they’ll be robbed of their passports and wallets, some will be raped or forced to have sex while so drunk they don’t know what they are doing. A few might get into a punch up, dozens will sport burns from trying the skipping ropes doused in petrol and set on fire, and sadly one or two will die.

Most will drown swimming while drunk. Others, like two Australians in 2005, will be thrown into the sea when their water taxi crashes into another craft in the middle of the night. They won’t have a life jacket- they won’t stand a chance.

This month marks the first anniversary of the death of promising rugby union champion Joe Welch. Joe died at a Full Moon party last year. His parents Peter and Gabrielle will now have to continue their lives without their son. It’s a tragic reminder that a seemingly innocent dance party can lead to death.

Their warning is for parents to become more aware of what goes on in Koh Phangnan.

And as the parent of a nineteen-year-old, I take their warning seriously. I would hate to be in their position. Hopefully more parents will watch our story and take that lesson to heart, so their children don’t become a statistic like Joe.